Gill National Championship Finals

St. Mary’s City, Md. (June 5, 2014) ??" The Gill Coed Dinghy National Championship continued today at St. Mary’s College of Maryland on the St. Mary’s River. The top eighteen collegiate teams in the nation advanced from the previous two days of competing in semi-finals to make it to the finals event today.

Racing got underway on time at 9:30 a.m. The conditions were some of the windiest this championship series has seen. The winds were 10-12 knots from the west-northwest causing whitecaps on the river. Temperatures were in the mid-70s. The winds were really shifty making for difficult racing. By the late afternoon the winds started to die and sailors were sent to shore to wait for breeze. After about an hour postponement, the race officials called the racing for the day.

A-division sailed in FJs and completed nine races and B-divison sailed in 420s and completed 10 races. The fleets sailed on trapezoid coursed in the morning and windward leeward four leg courses in the afternoon.

Yale University is leading after today’s racing with a 48-point gap between them and Tufts University, who is in second place. Yale was able to sail consistently today to stay on top of the leader board, especially in B-division, where they have a 27-point lead over the second place pairing, St. Mary’s College of Maryland.

“Zach [Leonard, Yale’s head coach] has been preaching to the team to stay consistent, sail for the pressure and stay in the lead group,” Bill Healy says, assistant coach for Yale. “Tomorrow we will aim to do the same,” he says. The prediction for tomorrow is a light northerly breeze.

Sailing for Yale is: Graham Landy '15 with Eugenia Custo Greig '14 and Katherine Gaumond '15 in A-division and Ian Barrows '17 with Amanda Salvesen '14 and Marlena Fauer '14 in B-division.

Tufts University finished the day in second place, six points ahead of third place. Tuft’s A-division sailors are also sailing consistently 16 points ahead of Yale’s A-division in second place.

“We are happy with how our A-division is sailing and in B-division we just had to work on starting,” says Ken Legler, head coach for Tufts. “We are trying to get off the [starting] line and use our speed,” he says.

“We are just focusing on our racing tomorrow and not looking at scores or other schools,” Legler says. Tomorrow will be the last day of racing.

Sailing for Tufts is: William Haeger '14 with Paula Grasberger '14 in A-division and Alejandro Ruiz-Ramon '15 with Alexander Tong '17 and Sam Madden '15 in B-division.

Georgetown University is in third place after racing today with teams in hot pursuit behind them. Stanford University is just 11 points behind Georgetown followed closely by St. Mary’s and Boston College.

Sailing for Georgetown is: Nevin Snow '16 with Katia DaSilva '15 in A-division and Alex Post '15 with Katie Olsen '15 and Bettina Redway '16 in B-division.

Racing is set to begin at 9:15 a.m. tomorrow, 15 minutes earlier than today to try and get a little extra time to race in the predicted light winds. No race can begin after 5 p.m.

An awards ceremony is scheduled to take place after racing at St. Mary’s College. Awards for podium finishers in this event will be presented, as well as the Marlow Ropes College Sailor of the Year, the Leonard M. Fowle Trophy for the best overall performing team and the Robert H. Hobbs Sportsmanship Award.

St. Mary’s City, Md. (June 6, 2014) ??" Today was the last day of the Gill Coed Dinghy National Championship, hosted by St. Mary’s College of Maryland. This is the last of three high caliber spring College Sailing National Championships, where were co-hosted by the U.S. Naval Academy and St. Mary’s College of Maryland. After winning their semi-final fleet leading up to the finals portion of this event Yale University has won the national title and the Henry A. Morss Memorial Trophy.

Racing got underway at 9:15 a.m. Winds were from the northwest at around 5-8 knots. It was sunny and the temperatures were in the 70s. The wind started to shift to the north and get light. After completing a few races the race officials postponed the racing to wait for wind. After about an hour a westerly wind around 8-12 knots held steady and the racing started up again. Later in the afternoon the wind shifted 180-degrees to the north. It did not hold and there was not enough to complete more races before the 5 p.m. deadline.

A-division sailed in 420s and completed six races today. B-division sailed in FJs and completed five races for an event total of 15 races in both divisions. The sailors competed on windward-leeward four leg courses today.

Yale finished 88 points ahead of second place overall and won the Henry A. Morss Memorial Trophy, which was donated by a group of nationally known yachtsmen as a memorial to Henry A. Morss, a Boston yachtsman and 1907 Bermuda Race winner, as well as an MIT alumnus and benefactor.

“We tried to sail our own races for this event and sail smart,” says Bill Healy, assistant coach for Yale. “You couldn’t sail safe up the middle today or you would miss the shifts,” Healy says of the conditions today, “We looked to sail for the pressure closest to us and use our boat speed,” he says.

This is the second championship Yale has one in this spring series and Healy says, “Everyone is so excited and can’t wait to get home and share the good news with their friends.”

Sailing for Yale: Graham Landy '15 with Eugenia Custo Greig '14 and Katherine Gaumond '15 in A-division and Ian Barrows '17 with Amanda Salvesen '14 and Marlena Fauer '14 in B-division.

Georgetown University finished 45 points ahead of third place overall and won the Oxford University Trophy for the second year in a row. It is awarded to the second place team in the Gill Coed Dinghy National Championship. The Oxford University Yacht Club team and its captain Jeremy Thomas presented this trophy in 1954 on the occasion of the first of a continuing series of college regattas between British and North American teams held alternately in the United States and Great Britain every two years.

“We are happy to get second,” says Mike Callahan, head coach for Georgetown. “It was an extremely difficult regatta against the top teams in the nation,” he says. “It was difficult to be consistent and Yale did an amazing job,” Callahan says.

Sailing for Georgetown: Nevin Snow '16 with Katia DaSilva '15 in A-division and Alex Post '15 with Katie Olsen '15 and Bettina Redway '16 in B-division.

Boston College finished in third place winning the Metropolitan Sailing League Trophy, which was first presented in 1971. Boston College was in sixth place yesterday, but today they worked up the scoreboard to win a spot on the podium.

Sailing for Boston College: Raul Rios '16 with Shelby Hamilton '14 and Allison Ferraris '17 in A-division and Erika Reineke '16 and William Bailey '15 with Elizabeth Barnard '15, Christopher Dwyer '15 and Katherine Wysocki '15 in B-division.

The Robert Allan, Sr. and Robert Allan, Jr. Trophies are awarded to the low point "A" and "B" teams, respectively, in the Gill Coed Dinghy National Championship. Graham Landy '15 with Eugenia Custo Greig '14 and Katherine Gaumond '15 from Yale won A-division with 71 points, twenty-seven points ahead of second place. Ian Barrows '17 with Amanda Salvesen '14 and Marlena Fauer '14 also from Yale won B-division with 50 points, 57 points ahead of second place.

Gary Jobson and Chris Love filmed portions of the Championship for an ESPNU segment, which will air on Friday, July 11 at 7 p.m. ET, Saturday, July 12 at 4 a.m. and 9 a.m. ET and Sunday, July 13 at 8 a.m. ET. This will be the tenth time the Gill Coed Dinghy National Championships have been covered on ESPNU.

The following chart shows the relative rank of the teams as of the race indicated. Note that the races are ordered by number, then division, which may not represent the order in which the races were actually sailed.

The first place team as of a given race will always be at the top of the chart. The spacing from one team to the next shows relative gains/losses made from one race to the next. You may hover over the data points to display the total score as of that race.